■REAL ESTATE
Trump mulls India project
Donald Trump Jr., the son of New York-based developer Donald Trump, said the Trump Organization is considering investing in an India project in 12 to 18 months. "I would like to take advantage of hotels and resorts coming up for future investment," Trump Jr. said at a real estate conference in Mumbai yesterday. Trump aims to focus on hotels, resorts and high-end homes in India, he said. India's real estate sector is expected to grow to US$90 billion by 2015 from US$12 billion now, estimates by Moody's Investors Service showed. The South Asian nation faces a shortage of about 25 million housing units, government data showed.
■ HEALTHCARE
Mediators table proposal
Mediators trying to prevent a mass resignation by Finnish nurses over a pay dispute have come up with a proposal likely to help end a crisis threatening the healthcare system, union officials said on Sunday. If ratified by both the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (TEHY) and the Local Authority Employers the agreement would stop 16,000 nurses from quitting and spare the healthcare system from potential paralysis. "There is a unanimous mediator committee proposal," TEHY regional head Helena Leppanen said. "We know our negotiators would not come out with one [proposal] that was not acceptable among our members."
■ BANKING
UK minister mulls bank aid
Advisors to British Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Alistair Darling are preparing a plan to continue an emergency loan to troubled bank Northern Rock despite EU rules limiting the period it can receive state aid, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported on Sunday. They are working on a scheme which would allow all or part of the £25 billion (US$51 billion) Bank of England loan to be extended indefinitely, it said. Under EU rules, Northern Rock cannot receive state aid beyond Feb. 17, but lawyers are looking at bypassing that stipulation by changing the status of the cash to restructuring aid, the paper said.
■ OIL
Prices up on supply worries
Oil prices were higher in Asia yesterday as traders again fretted over tight energy supplies with the northern hemisphere winter approaching, dealers said. Indications that OPEC is not about to raise output were also propping up prices, they said. "If one looks at the fundamentals, the market is tight," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz. "That is why the crude futures are showing fresh signs of strength," he said. In afternoon trade New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was US$0.92 higher at US$94.76 a barrel from US$93.84 in US trades on Friday. The December contract expired Friday, closing US$1.67 higher at US$95.10.
■ GAMING
Sony slashes software price
Sony Corp, the world's largest maker of video-game players, halved the price of a software program package used to develop titles for its PlayStation 3 console yesterday. The package, known as "reference tool," is now priced at ¥950,000 (US$8,600) in Japan and US$10,250 in the US, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, the Tokyo-based company's game unit, said in a statement.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
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